Bone grafting is a surgical procedure for repairing bones and typically involves introducing a mixture of material components, such as bone graft material, into an area of bone that requires repair, such as a fracture. The bone graft material is intended to stimulate growth of healthy native bone tissue, and new native bone tissue may eventually replace the bone graft material completely. Bone graft material is a type of biomaterial and typically includes a combination of crushed bone, or other particulate component, and a liquid component, such as blood, plasma, or growth factors. Bone graft materials can be allograft (derived from a human other than the one receiving the graft), autograft (derived from the human receiving the graft), and synthetic (created from, for example, ceramics like calcium phosphates).
Bone graft materials are typically delivered to a surgical site using syringe-like delivery devices, which often include attachments, such as small diameter cannulae. The bone graft materials may also be mixed within the delivery device. The liquid component is introduced into the particulate component already contained within the syringe and effectively “hydrates” the particulate component. However, the time and ability of the liquid component to effectively hydrate the particulate component depends, at least in part, on the size of the particulate used in the surgical procedure.
For example, particulate components of bone graft material may vary in size from relatively course particulates to relatively fine, powder-like particulates. On one hand, the liquid component tends to distribute more effectively throughout the relatively course particulate of biomaterial contained within the syringe. On the other hand, relatively fine, powder-like particulates tend to retain greater concentrations of the liquid component in localized concentrations of the particulate. Such localized concentrations of the liquid component may fail to distribute effectively throughout the particulate component resulting in additional surgical time and, in turn, a reduced likelihood of favorable patient outcomes.
There is a need for a device and method for improving hydration of biomaterials, such as a mixture of bone graft materials, that effectively hydrates a particulate component of a biomaterial while addressing issues such as those discussed above.